Emotion's Curse
by scenerdoth
Summary: Pathomagus. A very rare form of witch or wizard. They can sense the feelings of others, feel them as their own. They put others happiness in front of their own, giving up their happiness for the greater good of those they love. Pathomagus' rarely live a happy life. These are chronicles of Alice Cross's years at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

_Pathomagus. A very rare form of witch or wizard. They can sense the feelings of others, feel them as their own. They put others happiness in front of their own, giving up their happiness for the greater good of those they love. Pathomagus' rarely live a happy life._

"Your move, Alice" Lucius said. My uncle's library was pretty much empty except for me and my childhood friend Lucius Malfoy, playing what was going to be a pretty intense game of Wizard Chess.

"Alright," I said, pondering what I was going to do with my knight. Wizard Chess is a very logical game, and I prided myself in being pretty good at it. Usually I could beat people in a couple moves, but Lucius knew my normal strategy too well. I guess that's what you get from using certain moves too much. I ran my fingers through my long, shockingly red hair. My yellow eyes narrowed in concentration as I decided what I was going to do. "Knight to E12," I called out.

Following my instruction, my knight moved to the designated square on the board. He didn't say anything, all my pieces knew better than that. As long as they didn't question my moves, they almost always had a sure victory.

"Pawn to C4," a very aggressive-looking pawn obeyed his master's wishes.

It seemed such a long time ago that we first met. To be honest, it had been six years ago; not too long after my father had died in a car crash. Not too long after my uncle had come to take me from my home in Canada to live with him at his mansion in Britain. Not too long after I discovered that my mother that died when I was born was a witch and that I was too. A half-blood to be precise; a child born of a muggle and pure-blood witch.

"Pawn to B13," I tried to keep my mind focus on the game but I had too many thought on my mind. For example, I was eagerly awaiting my Hogwarts acceptance letter. Lucius had already been going for four years going on five now and had told me many wonderful stories about the famous wizarding school. I just couldn't wait to go. For another, I couldn't help but wonder what Lucius' parents were doing in Bulgaria. I knew they must be having a wonderful holiday, but I didn't understand why they didn't bring their son with them. If I was gone for most of the year, my uncle, or even my father if he was still alive, would've tried to spend as much time with me as possible.

Lucius and I made moves back and forth as I pondered my many thoughts. Suddenly, I felt a little pang of fear. Okay, I didn't really feel it, I just sensed it, and it was coming from my now not-so fierce opponent. Then I understood why. I had him trapped. Just one move of my bishop and I would have him in checkmate.

"Scared, Malfoy?" I asked playfully.

"No I'm not, Cross," he replied defensively, but still a little playful.

"Stop lying. I always know what you're feeling," I giggled.

"You always know what everyone is feeling," He retorted.

That statement was true. I could always tell what anyone was feeling, due to being a Pathomagus. Actually, at this age I could feel their emotions as well, but if I kept my fringe covering my left eye I wouldn't have to deal with that. Nifty, eh?

"Checkmate," I declared as my bishop cornered his king and pulverized it.

"You really annoy me sometimes, Alice," Lucius stated.

"Only because I challenge your male ego," I smirked.

"Did somebody say male ego?" said a perky voice from outside the room. Soon the voices owner strutted into the library, my sandy haired, blue eye, and completely fabulous Uncle Eleutherius Alexandra. "Lucius, did you allow Alice to beat you in wizard chess, _again?"_ he said playfully, while trying to conceal some suspicious looking envelopes very badly behind his back.

"I didn't allow her to beat me, I just messed up," Lucius replied.

"Spoken like a true Slytheryn" I remarked.

"Well guess what I have Alice?" My uncle looked like he was about to explode from joy as he handed me the envelope. One look and I knew what it was: my Hogwarts letter.

HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,

Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Ms. Cross,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

I was happy I nearly was jumping up and down squealing. Uncle Eleutherius and Lucius were just laughing at how excited I was as I read through the letter and supplies list. Lucius also got a letter, that contained his supply list for the year and something else. It contained a letter of congratulations and a badge with the letter P.

"You've been made a Prefect!" squealed my uncle while squishing Lucius in a bear hug, "I'm so proud of you son!"

"I'm not your son," Lucius said breathlessly, his face turning beet red.

"Shut up, yes you are."

I decided that I didn't want to miss out on the fun and hugged Lucius too. After that wonderful, intimate, and completely unembarrassing moment, we settled down a bit to some tea and biscuits.

"This just gives me more reason be sorted into Slytheryn," I said to Lucius, "Merlin, Uncle Eleutherius, and now you being a prefect. Just seems fitting I should be sorted there, eh?"

"Now don't get to hasty," Uncle Eleutherius said, "Just because you want to be in Slytheryn doesn't mean that you get to be in Slytheryn. The Sorting Hat is a very interesting article of clothing. You don't always get what you expect."

"Well, if it won't let me in Slytheryn then I'll just insist to be in Hufflepuff. That was Mom's house and Lucius says they're like the Canadians of Hogwarts anyway. I'll fit right in. I'm more Canadian than they'll ever be." I said proudly. If their one thing I'll never forget it's my Canadian heritage. No matter where I go I will always have maple syrup in my veins.

"Well before you get sorted into any house there's one place we need to go," my uncle stated, "Diagon Alley."


	2. Chapter 2: Diagon Alley

"Alright you two, this is how it's going to work. We are going to take the Floo Network to Diagon Alley. I will go first, then Alice, and then you Lucius," Uncle Eleutherius said while handing us our Floo Powder. Today was the day that we were going to go shopping for school supplies and I was very excited.

"Make sure you speak clearly, Lucy," I teased.

" _I_ speak clearly," responded Lucius, sounding offended, "If I remember correctly, I wasn't the one who kept pronouncing it Diaganilly."

I nearly opened my mouth to make some sassy comeback but my uncle interrupted playfully, "Do I have to separate you two?"

"No, sir," we said in monotone.

"Alrighty then," he said cheerfully as he stepped into the fireplace and threw down his hand full, "Diagon Alley!" he shouted as the green flames consumed him.

I took a deep breath and followed his lead. To be honest, I hated Floo travel, but I didn't really have a say in the matter. I was too young to apparate and my father refused to use any sort of muggle travel due to his pure-blood pride.

"Diagon Alley!" I shouted as my Floo powder hit the stone floor of the fireplace. The green flames engulfed me and soon I was at my destination. I found my Uncle waiting at Flourish and Blotts and stood by his side until Lucius came.

"Okay, now that everybody's here, let's go over our game plan," my uncle started, "Since we're already at Flourish and Blotts we should go there first, then we go to Madame Malkins to get Alice's school clothes, then we go to the Apocathary to stock up on you guys' potion ingredients, get Alice's cauldron, and then go to Ollivanders to get her wand. Possibly stop by the Florean Flortescuse's on the way out."

Lucius and I nodded to Uncle Eleutherius' plan and followed him inside Flourish and Blotts. Once I got in, I had to remind myself that I was most definitely not going to hide somewhere deep in the store with my nose in a book, a habit that I was very well known for. Luckily, Lucius seemed to know what I was thinking and shot me a disapproving glare, keeping me on task.

Finding the books was easy enough, but waiting in line wasn't. There was a very long line of patrons waiting to buy their books as well. We waited in line for about ten minutes before we were able to purchase the books we needed. My uncle said thank you to Mr. Flourish and then we headed out the store. However, I couldn't help but look longingly over to the fiction section, but I reminded myself that I still had "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy that my muggle aunt gave me to finish.

We followed what my uncle called "the game plan" for the rest of the day until we finally reached Ollivanders. I couldn't help but feel excited over the fact that I would soon be getting my own wand. I'd always found wand lore fascinating and found it surprising how much you can learn about a person just by their wand.

Uncle Eleutherius handed me some galleons and told me, "I have some business to attend to. Go ahead and get your wand. Meet me at Florean Flortescuse's when you're done, okay?"

"Okay," I promised.

Lucius and I walked into the store and I was taken away by its appearance. It was very charming, a bit musty, but charming all the same. There was a front counter with a little service bell and on all the shelves there were little boxes. In a sense it reminded me of a bookstore, very similar to the ones I used to go to before my father died.

Lucius rang the service bell and an old man appeared, who I deduced to be Mr. Ollivander himself.

"Lucius Malfoy," he said warmly, "I was wondering how long it would be before we met again. 18 inches, elm, dragon heartstring, I presume?"

"Yes, and it's served me very well," said Lucius, "I was wondering if you could provide my friend with a wand?"

"And you've come to the right place," Mr. Ollivander looked at me, "What is your name, my dear?"

"Alice" I replied, "Alice Cross."

"Hmm," he said as he studied me, "I'll see what I can do."

He went to one of the shelves, grabbed a box, and handed a wand to me.

"11 inches, Cherry, phoenix feather; supple," he said.

I stared at the magnificent wand for a bit.

"Go on," Mr. Ollivander goaded, "Give it a flick."

I swished the wand and I knocked over a lamp. He took the wand away instantly.

"No, not that one," he muttered as he put the wand back and picked another one.

"13 inches, Hazel, Dragon Heartstring; flexible," he said while handing me the wand.

I swished the wand and heard the shattering of glass somewhere in the back of the store.

"Not that one either," he muttered, selecting another wand.

"12 inches, Ash, Unicorn hair; brittle," he told me.

This time when I swished it, an entire row of boxes came crashing down. I quickly put the wand on the counter as Mr. Ollivander shouted, "Most _definitely_ not!"

He sighed as he handed me another wand, "Let's try this one. 12¼ inches, Yew, Unicorn hair; surprisingly squishy."

As soon as my fingers wrapped around the wand's handle, there was a golden aura surrounding me. My wand had finally chosen me.

"Interesting," Mr. Ollivander muttered, "Very interesting indeed."

"What's interesting?" Lucius asked.

"My wand is an oxymoron," I said, "Yew is the wood most likely to succumb to the Dark Arts and Unicorn hair is the core that is most resistant."

"You study wandlore Ms. Cross?" Mr. Ollivander asked.

"I read a couple books on it for fun once, nothing really major though," I stated.

"I see," he said, "Then you also know that a perfect match for this kind of wand is very rare?"

"Yes, sir," I answered.

"Then that should be enough to answer Mr. Malfoy's questions," Mr. Ollivander said, "That will be 8 galleons."

I paid him for the wand and left the store.

"We should probably meet up with Mr. Alexandra," Lucius said.

"You know that my uncle is fine with you calling him Eleutherius, eh?" I teased.

"Yes, but it's respectful," he responded.

His voice had a tone of finality so I decided not to tease him anymore. Instead I asked him more about Hogwarts, and he kindly complied. He was telling me more about Slytherin when we met up with my uncle at the ice cream shop. He was holding a beautiful black cat with yellow eyes in his arms. Even though his face seemed emotionless, I sensed that he was overflowing with excitement and joy.

"Apparently, important business is buying Alice a pet, isn't it Mr. Alexandra?" Lucius said. My uncle just shot him a playful smile in return as he handed me the feline.

"It's a boy," He told me, "I haven't named him yet though. I thought that you would come up with the right name for him."

"You sure are right about that," I said cheerfully, "I have plenty of things I want to name him. The problem is which one."

Lucius, the kitty, and I sat down while Uncle Eleutherius bought us some ice cream. I petted my new companion, trying to narrow down what I was going to call him. By the time my uncle came back, I had narrowed it down to three.

"I'm going to call him Aslan, Gandalf, or Sherlock," I declared. "Which one do you guys like?"

They stared at the cat in my arms for a minute before Lucius said, "Where do you even get all these silly names?"

"It's probably from those books her aunt keeps sending her," my uncle stated, "Their simply horrendous! The pictures don't even move!"

"Well I like them," I said, "Their wonderful stories about love, sacrifice, and friendship and I think..."

"Okay, okay, I get it already," He interrupted, "I like Sherlock. He looks more like a Sherlock than any of those other names you mentioned." Lucius simply nodded his head in agreement.

"Alrighty then." I said, "Sherlock it is!"

After filling our stomachs with ice cream, we went back home and I realized how tired I was. It really had been a long day. I decided that after dinner, I was going to go straight to bed. As I entered my room, I placed my school books in my trunk and my wand on my dresser, my mind wandering as I did.

This would be Lucius's last day here before his parents would pick him up to take him back home. I would have to spend the rest of my summer alone with my uncle. Not that he was that bad or anything, it's just that he could spend a lot of time at the Ministry sometimes. All well, that gives me more time to spend with Sherlock and read those books my aunt sent me.

I picked up Sherlock and placed him next to me as I climbed into bed. He purred as he climbed on top of my face and curled up there. I nearly pushed him off, but he seemed so content there that I just didn't have the heart to do it. So I just laid there with Sherlock on my face until I fell asleep, pondering the many things I was going to do when I finally arrived at Hogwarts.


	3. Chapter 3: Platform and 34

Summer couldn't have been any slower. After the Malfoys had come to pick up Lucius, things seemed to go to a standstill. Most of the time I was home alone, due to the fact that my uncle had to go back to work at the Ministry. He worked in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and for the most part enjoyed his job, but recent events made it very hard for him not to be worried. Disappearances and attacks had started becoming more common, which caused him to start spending a lot more time at work.

His large absences caused me to start finding refuge in playing with Sherlock and reading books. I also wrote to Lucius a bit, but he must've been busy or something because he didn't really write back.

On the other hand, Sherlock had become a very good companion. He wasn't very picky and loved to cuddle and play with me. It started to become very common to find him sleeping on my lap while I was reading the adventures of his namesake, Sherlock Holmes, or slowly chipping through "Fellowship of the Ring".

My aunt had been right when she said it was a difficult read. Every so often I would have to put the book down and allow everything that I had just read to sink in. But I knew that it would be worth it. The book had so much lore behind it that I sometimes just wished that I could jump inside of it and learn all of its secrets.

I put the book down, deciding that it was time to go to bed. Looking at the calendar in my room, I realized that I would be heading to school tomorrow.

"Wow," I thought, "Summer seemed to be moving by so slowly, yet tomorrow I'm leaving to go on a new adventure. Creepy, eh?"

I decided that before I went to sleep that I would play the music box my father gave to me on my sixth birthday. Slowly, I wound the key to the maple box and then let it go. When it started playing, I sang softly along.

 _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine_

 _You make me happy when skies are grey_

 _You'll never know, dear, how much I love you_

 _Please don't take my sunshine away_

I shed a tear and crawled into bed, the music box lulling me to sleep. My father used to sing it to me all the time before I went to sleep. When I listened closely, I could almost hear his tenor voice singing, perfectly on key as always. Drifting on those thoughts, I slowly fell into a deep slumber.

"Wake up, wake up!" I suddenly felt a pair of hands on my shoulders, shaking me violently.

"What's that for?" I growled at a very excited Uncle Eleutherius, who wasn't bothered in the slightest at my bad attitude.

"My little girl's going off to Hogwarts!" he squealed, "I want her up an' at 'em and ready to start the school year."

"Just get out of my room," I growled as I threw a pillow at him.

My uncle decided to do what was best for him and left my room, leaving me to my own devices. I put on some jeans and a black and white striped shirt and then proceeded to brush my hair into its usual style. Suddenly, my stomach growled and my body slowly walked out my bedroom door to find breakfast.

I followed my nose into the kitchen, where I found my uncle's house elf.

"Hullo, Blinky," I said cheerfully, "What ya making?"

"Good morning, Miss Cross," her squeaky voice replied cheerfully, "I is making waffles."

"You need any help?" I asked.

"No, no, I is doing fine on my own," she replied, "Their almost done now anyway."

Most people would find it odd how my uncle and I treated Blinky. House elves were usually treated like vermin, but we had different standards on how they should be treated. We both believed that house elves should be treated with respect and love, no matter what anybody else thinks..

I sat down next to my uncle as Blinky started bringing out our plates of waffles and the condiments that went with them.

"Thanks, Blinky," I said.

"Yes, thank you Blinky," my uncle followed.

Blinky smiled as she left the room and my uncle and I started eating.

"Do you want some waffles with that maple syrup?" he teased as I doused my waffles in the sticky substance.

"No," I stated, "But I do want to know what's going on at work. What's going on that they need you there pretty much 24/7?"

He look turned very solemn.

"Things haven't been going very well," he said very seriously, "Mr. Crouch is in an outrage. There have been so many muggle attacks lately by those Death Eaters. I just hope that we can figure out who they are and catch them all soon," he gave me a sad smile and ruffled my hair, "I don't want them hurting my little girl."

"Uncle," I whined as I swiftly removed his hand from my hair. He started laughing as I gave him an evil glare.

After breakfast, I put Sherlock in his travel cage and gathered my things. I stared at my room a little bit and admired the pictures that I had painted on the walls. Pictures of roses, Lucius, my uncle, my father, even my mother covered the walls, like little memories floating through the room. It saddened me to think about how I was not going to see this room for nine months. The pictures gave me a feeling of belonging and reminded me that no matter how far away my loved ones were, they would always be in my heart.

"Alice, hurry up," Uncle Eleutherius called, bringing me back to reality, "We're going to meet up with the Malfoys and I don't want to be late."

"I'm coming!" I called back, picking up my things and carrying them downstairs.

"Take my arm," my uncle said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because we're going to apparate there. I don't like it, but Kings Cross station is not connected to the Floo Network."

I took his arm and held Sherlock's cage, while my uncle grabbed hold of my trunk.

"You ready?" he asked.

I nodded, too nervous to speak. Suddenly, I felt a disgusting lurch and then we arrived at Kings Cross Station. I looked over at Sherlock, and he didn't look too good. To be honest, he looked like he was going to throw up, which was pretty much how I was feeling.

"Don't worry," my uncle reassured me, "It happens to all first time apparaters."

I wasn't sure which form of travel I hated more at this point.

"Why can't we just call a cab?" I thought, "It's a great deal better than any of this mess!"

Of course, I already knew the answer to that. We waited around the station a bit until I caught sight of Lucius and his father. I ran through the crowd and greeted him with a big hug.

"Hello, Lucius," I greeted.

"Hello," he said, returning the hug.

My uncle decided to go for a more dignified manner and simply greeted Lucius' father.

"Abraxas," my uncle nodded politely.

"Eleutherius," said Mr. Malfoy, returning the nod.

My uncle and Mr. Malfoy had been best friends since their first year at Hogwarts. They were both placed in Slytherin and were practically inseparable. We usually visited Malfoy Manor often, but due to my uncle's busy work schedule we didn't have much of a chance to visit this year.

As we walked to the wall that would take us to Platform 9 and ¾, Lucius said, "When we get to the train, I'm going to have to leave you okay?"

"Why?" I asked.

"Prefects sit in a designated compartment, where the head girl and boy will tell us what our duties are and stuff like that," he explained.

"Oh," I said dejectedly.

"Don't worry. We'll still see each other in Slytherin." He said.

"Yeah, we will," my usual smiled returned to my face.

"Alright, Alice," Uncle Eleutherius said when we arrived to the wall, "What you need to do is when there are no muggles around, walk through the wall with no fear."

"Right," I said uncertain.

"It's best to take a running start if you're nervous." My uncle reassured.

"Look, I'll show you," Lucius said, clearly not thinking my uncle's explanation was good enough.

He looked around to see if anyone was watching, and then ran with his baggage carriage through the wall. I suddenly felt reassured that this wasn't some joke and prepared to run through the wall. Looking around a bit while I did it, I pushed my own baggage carriage though the wall and I ended up at a train platform that said Platform 9 and ¾.

"Thank Godric," I thought, "Wizards do have a form of transportation that won't make me sick."

Mr. Malfoy and my uncle followed and we all went to find Lucius. Finding Lucius was quite a task, there were so many children and parents saying their goodbyes that it almost made me dizzy. I couldn't wait to be a little bit away from these people because their emotions were overwhelming me. Much to my pleasure, we found out he was already on the train, which meant that I could get away from the emotions that were addling my brain.

"Goodbye Uncle Eleutherius," I said, kissing his cheek.

"You be good," he said, tears falling from his eyes, "I don't want to get anything from the headmaster."

"Don't worry, I won't. Now stop crying or I will cry, and that would be really bad." I said.

"I'll miss you!" My uncle called as I climbed onto the train.

"I'll miss you, too!" I called back, making Sherlock wave bye-bye as we stepped onto the train. My new adventure was about to begin, and I couldn't wait.


	4. Chapter 4

When I was on-board, I suddenly realized that I really had no idea where to go. I wandered a bit through the train trying to find a compartment that seemed interesting before deciding to just randomly enter one. As I walked in, I saw a red-headed girl, a boy with messy black hair and round glasses, a boy with black hair and silver eyes, and finally a boy with stringy-looking black hair down to the bottom of his neck and obsidian eyes, who seemed to be deep in conversation with the girl.

I sat down next to the boy with silver eyes and put Sherlock on the ground. Then I looked at the boy next to the girl again and thought, "You sir, you are very attractive. Therefore, I will stare at you." But I soon decided that was really creepy and decided to become very interested in Sherlock instead.

After cuddling with him for a bit, I decided to try and finish up "The Fellowship of the Ring". I pulled the book out of my knapsack and started reading while Sherlock curled up next to me. Everything was perfect until the boy next to me decided that he wanted to read my book too.

"Whatcha reading?" He asked.

While still reading, I turned to face him and brought the book's cover over my face, hoping he would get the message and just shut up.

"Can I read?" He asked.

"No," I said, still trying to concentrate on the book, "Because I'm around the end and that would spoil the book for you."

I really hoped that my comment would be the end of his seemingly endless chatter, but that didn't happen. Instead, he held out his hand and said, "I'm Sirius, Sirius Black."

I ignored his hand, kept reading my book and said, "I'm Alice, Alice Cross. Now if you could be serious for a little bit you would realize how cross I am over the fact that you are not allowing me to read my book."

He smirked at my terrible name puns and decided to leave me to my book, something for which I was very thankful.

After a while, I finally finished the book. My thoughts wandered on the last chapter of the book for a bit and wondered what was going to happen next.

"Well," I thought, "Time to start the next book,"

I put the book in my hands back in my knapsack and reached for the next book. While I did, my ears perked to the words, "You'd better be in Slytherin."

I looked for the source of the sound and found that it was the very good looking boy.

"Are we talking about house preferences?" I thought happily.

"Slytherin?" the girl asked.

Suddenly, the boy with the glasses looked at the boy and girl.

"Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?" he asked Black.

Silently in my head I thought, "I want to be in Slytherin," but decided to keep my mouth shut. I'd be butting into a conversation that I wasn't invited into.

"My whole family has been in Slytherin," Black said.

"Blimey," said the boy, "and I thought you were alright!"

"Maybe I'll break the tradition." Black said with a grin, "Where are you going, if you've got the choice?"

The annoying boy lifted up an invisible sword.

"Gryffindor, where dwell the brave of heart! Like my dad."

The other boy made a small, disparaging noise, which I totally agreed with. If I ended up in Gryffindor with _this_ jerk, I would be trying my hardest not to skedaddle out of there.

"Got a problem with that?" said the jerk.

"No," said the boy, but I could sense that he had a big problem with that, "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy-"

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you neither?" interjected Black.

I went red in the face, Gryffinboy, as I had come to call him, died of laughter, and the girl sat up, rather angry and looked at both the boys in dislike.

"Come on, Severus, let's find another compartment."

"Ooooooo…"

The boys imitated her lofty voice; Gryffinboy tried to trip Severus as he passed.

"See ya, Snivellus!" Gryffinboy called as the compartment boy slammed.

"You know Slytherin isn't that bad?" I asked both the boys, anger oozing from my voice, "Merlin was a Slytherin, and he's one of the greatest wizards of all time."

"Oh, no," Black said, "Not you too?"

"Yes, me too," I sassed, my face getting redder, "Either Slytherin or Hufflepuff."

"Hufflepuff," Gryffinboy laughed, "What the hell is a Hufflepuff?"

I stood up and grabbed Sherlock and my things.

"Hufflepuffs are especially good finders," I snapped at the increasingly annoying boy, "So don't come crying to me when something of yours gets misplaced and you need help finding it, _Gryffinboy."_

I stormed out of the compartment, ignoring Black's pleas to return as I did. I put my stuff in another compartment, placed Sherlock back in his cage and decided that I was going to change into my school clothes.

On the way to the bathrooms, I ran into the girl that stormed out of the compartment. The line was quite long so I decided that I strike up a bit of a conversation.

"Hello," I said, "I'm Alice, Alice Cross."

"Hello," she responded, "I'm Lily, Lily Evans. Aren't you that girl from the compartment?"

"Yeah," I said, "Those two guys were real douchebags, eh?"

"That's not very nice," she stated.

"It's true," I said back.

She laughed a bit, "You are right. They weren't very nice."

"It was taking my whole willpower to not burst out of the room myself. Happened anyway, but still…." I said.

"Why did you leave?" she asked.

"They made fun of me for wanting to go to Slytherin and Hufflepuff." I stated.

"That's terrible," she said, "Sev's told me about Slytherin, but what's Hufflepuff."

I looked at her weird for a bit, but soon realized that she must've been a muggle-born.

"Hufflepuff's a great house," I started, "They're basically the Canadians of Hogwarts. They're really great finders and make excellent friends. My mother was a Hufflepuff. I never got to know her though; she died soon after I was born."

"I'm sorry to hear that," she said with a sad smile, "What house did your father go to?"

"My father was a muggle. My mother met him while on holiday in Canada, and they got married. According to my uncle, Grandmother freaked out. Didn't allow anyone in the family to contact or visit her."

"Why?" she asked.

"Grandma was a huge believer in the whole pure-blood patriarchy thing. My uncle is too, just not as much as her." I explained, "I mean, he took me in when my dad died, so he isn't that bad."

"Oh," she said, but still looked a little confused.

"Don't worry. You'll pick up things at Hogwarts," I smiled, "Besides you have your friend to fill you in on stuff like that."

"You're right," she smiled back, her green eyes shining.

"Well, see you," I said while I left to go into one of the bathrooms.

"See you," she said back.

The train's bathroom was quite small, but I was able to put on my school clothes with relative ease. The hardest part definitely had to be the tie. My uncle had taught me many times how to tie one, but I could never get the hang of it. I ended up messing around with how I thought it was supposed to go until it looked like it was supposed to. I definitely was going to modify it to become a bow-tie. It would be a whole lot easier than this thing.

By the time I was finished dressing, it was time to get off the train. I grabbed Sherlock and my knapsack and then stepped into the sea of students on the platform. Excitement flooded my very being, realizing that what I had been dreaming about for five years was suddenly coming true.


End file.
